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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

January 5, 2020

Elina Svitolina

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

THE MODERATOR: Who has the first question, please?

Q. How are you feeling about your off-season, about getting ready to start your season pretty soon?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, I feel good, I feel fresh, motivated to start, yeah, the season. Yeah, the preparation has been good and I'm excited to start the tournament.

Q. Just walk me through your off-season, what you were doing, where you were, what your training blocks were like.
ELINA SVITOLINA: So we were in Dubai for one month. We were training there. I think it was actually a long time I didn't do it outside of Europe. I think last time actually was Abu Dhabi three years ago. So, yeah, it's been training really hard and only focusing pretty much on survival (laughing) so, yeah, it was quite hot and I'm happy that I'm back here in Brisbane and playing soon.

Q. Knowing that last year you were talking a lot about your knee, you had injured, many travels. Is that something that changed in the off-season compared to other years?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, definitely I had to do a long rehab to get ready for the high training and for sure it's, I needed to take extra care of it and I had to start very, very slowly, not like before, you know, you could just start and see how your body feels. But here I had to be really, really thinking, what is the best for my knee because I don't want to feel the same pain. I don't even want to be close to that kind of injury. And the knee is a very sensitive part because you always put pressure on it, so I have to be extremely ready to adjust and we, I think we did it good and now I'm pain free so far so hopefully it will be good and no pain.

Q. Is Marcos still -- is he coming down to Australia?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah, he's here.

Q. And what was the idea of bringing him into the fold? What are you hoping he will bring? What will he add to your game?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, for sure, as an ex-player he sees the game from his point and it's something different that I was looking for, is to add into my game. For sure we improved massively with Andy for the past years I've been working with him and he knows me very, very good. And for me it's important to add the small things that can improve my game and that's what I'm looking for, and I'm very happy that it's been going well so far. I really enjoy the atmosphere when we are all three of us on the court and that's been going well so far.

Q. There's a fair number of ex-ATP players who have been coming to WTA coaching in the last few years. I'm curious if you had to teach them anything about the differences of this tour or seeing him learning of the adjustment from being on one tour or transitioning to the other?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, I don't know if there is much of a difference. For sure there is some maybe adjustment on the game because we have maybe different game style. We're not, like, just serving and returning. We have more like rallies and, obviously, return is a very big part of women's tennis. So that's maybe a little bit different, but maybe it's better to ask him what is the difference. But for me it's, I don't know, it's a tough question.

Q. Have you gotten any tips on racket breaking from Marcos (laughing)?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, no, hopefully not (laughing). I love my racket, so I don't want to do that.

Q. Reflecting on the last two seasons, obviously, successful in very different ways. Two years ago winning the finals and the season you put together there, and then last year just the Slam performances were really where you were able to break through. So how do you, when you think about how do I merge these two things together into a single year, what do you think is the key? What do you take out of the last two seasons and try to apply to 2020?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, for sure there was a little bit of everything, injury as well gave me some thoughts to think about. And good wins, bad wins, making semi-finals definitely brought me the belief that I could make one step further and I had the chance to play in the biggest stages and gave me lots of confidence at that particular point. And there was different kind of situations, I think, in both years, and was, I think maybe the 2019 was tough, more tough than the other one because there were more of sad moments, I would say. But also, it's tough to really understand what's going on because the year is very long. You have almost losing every single week, so you have to take lots of positives somehow and that's, I think, what I learned for the past year, that you have to stay really positive on the even bad moments and try to move forward and just be yourself and moving forward.

Q. I think tennis fans are excited that their favorite reality show, G.E.M.S Life has been renewed for a second season. I'm curious if you have any plans for what season two has in store for the show.
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, for sure we will try to do something. We're trying to think about some styles, some videos, maybe. No, it's more natural, so we will see. I mean, but probably better to ask the director of this.

Q. And then, this tournament's very different from what it was last year with the ATP splitting into its own tournament with ATP Cup and taking over the main stadium for the first many days of the tournament. I'm curious what, how that's affecting you, what you think of the changes, because it is a pretty different -- you know you're going to play your first match on the outer court, what do you think of the changes here?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, for sure we notice, we notice that, and also notice that the court No. 1 is bigger and much nicer. And for me I don't really mind where to play. I really enjoy to play under the roof, so hopefully I will play court 1, court 2, it doesn't really matter. I like to play here in Brisbane, I don't know, it's maybe because I won here in the past. But also the atmosphere here, the fans here all the time, lots of people watching and people are really love the sport here, so it's very enjoyable to start the season particularly here, and for me it's just about enjoying myself on the court.

Q. What are your impressions of the ATP Cup, and do you think it's something that the WTA could look at in the future?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, I heard there's been some talking about it. I don't know, I don't really think about it. I just try to take what we have now, and for me I always enjoy playing Brisbane International and always. Coming back with a great memories. So if it's going to come, it's going to come. If not, it's not up to me.

Q. Just wondering, in the Olympic year, if you are thinking about the potential chance for you to be the player for your country.
ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah, for sure I want to play. First of all, I still have to play the one Fed Cup match, so we'll see how it goes. I spoke with the captain, so I said that I want to play and we'll see. I'm still finalizing some stuff. So I want to play for my country. I always love to play for my country. I always try to do it and always passionate about it. So hopefully everything goes well and I'll have a chance to play Fed Cup and Olympics as well. But it's a long year, so it's tough to say what you're going to do in few weeks and it's, I mean, it's going to be in a few months, the Fed Cup, how I'm going to feel after, so we'll see.

Q. What was your favorite or the standout moment of your off-season?
ELINA SVITOLINA: That's very tough question. Let me answer to you next press conference (laughing).

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